| January 6, 2002 | Sunday | Shawwal 21, 1422 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
Countering religious extremism
Utility bills
Umrah visits
NAB and the nabbed
Shifting of exam centre
Problems of widows
Rangers: setting the record straight
Let war give way to peace
New ID cards
Municipal budget
Attracting foreign investment
THE grief-stricken faces of ordinary Pakistani and the Indian citizens on board the last train and the last bus from Lahore and Delhi demonstrate the absolute power our politicians and bureaucrats wield on us. Plans made over several months, efforts spent in obtaining visa, the hopes of meeting long separated relatives and friends, the dreams of being able to do so many things that was not possible to do for years, the savings of years invested in the journey — all dashed to dust.
The two and half decades old Samjhota Express and the bus service between Lahore and Delhi which was started in 1999 had come as a great relief to the divided families of the subcontinent. In response to the growing popular demand on both sides of the borders for better people-to-people contacts, the two governments had eased the visa regime and other travel regulations. Interactions between ordinary citizens of India and Pakistan had given birth to several cross border peace initiatives. More and more people on both sides of the border were saying: Let us stop this hostility. Let us be friends and live in peace.
One needs to ask how the forcible disruption of contacts between the peoples of India and Pakistan would achieve the desired objective of pressurizing Pakistan to curb terrorism. If Pakistan government is ‘sponsoring’ terrorism in India, will it stop doing so because we have stopped ordinary Pakistani from visiting India?
It is not my case that India should have remained silent after attack on the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001. But before getting on to the moral high horse and emulating the United States knee-jerk response to the September 11 attack on the WTC and the Pentagon, should we not ask: can we eradicate the threat of terrorist attacks anywhere in India without Pakistan’s cooperation and politically resolving the Kashmir dispute?
Since 1989, we have massed a huge force in Jammu and Kashmir, declared the entire state a disturbed area, put it under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and enacted a whole hoard of draconian laws to curb the separatist movement and terrorism. More than 30,000 (government estimates) people have been killed. It is said that over these years in Jammu and Kashmir, a total of about 150,000 persons were arrested by various security agencies. Out of these nearly 15,000 have gone missing.
For more than five decades, the Indian government has been trying to suppress the insurgency in the northeast. The Indian army, paramilitary forces and at times even the Indian air force has been pressed into operations from time to time. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act was created to allow the Indian army an open hand and almost total immunity in the northeast. Yet the insurgency continues.
Pakistan has already taken some preventive actions against the leaders of the two Jihadi organizations named by India. About 50 persons associated with these organizations have been put behind bars. Pakistan’s foreign minister has indicated willingness to begin legal proceedings against these people if India provided an actionable case.
India should now share the evidence against these people with Pakistan and ask them to take the necessary legal action. Sharing of evidence should not be made into an issue of prestige or pride. This will help in normalizing relations and strengthening institutional links. Pakistan’s failure to take action after receiving the evidence will give India the justification for further actions.
TAPAN KUMAR BOSE
Kathmandu, Nepal
ON a recent trip to Pakistan, my cousin took me around Islamabad, bragging about how “westernized” and “liberal” the capital was, at par with the most affluent cities in the world.
When he suggested we take a trip to a local underground nightclub, I was aghast at such a suggestion, assuming that the Islamic State of Pakistan was, well, Islamic!
Why is it that the self-proclaimed “moderates” of Islam seem to be so fervently opposed to even the basic teachings of Islam? At no point during my stay did I notice many people assembling in the mosques during the call to prayer, the most basic and essential pillar of Islam. When I questioned my family about this, they found it very convenient to quote the verse from the Quran; “There is no compulsion in religion.” This sort of attitude towards even the basic teaching of Islam is exactly the cannon-fodder that religious extremists feed on and use to lobby for a Jihad on every street corner.
If the Muslims want to eliminate this intolerant brand of Islam, then the educated class has to take back their religion by actually getting down to practising the practical aspect of it.
Sitting down on the front porch in the evenings with my family, sipping delicious tea and listening to our good friend and neighbour, rant on and on about how the Mullahs have ruined the image of Islam made good small-talk. But the fact is, when the Muazzin called for the Maghrib prayer, not a single person in that congregation did so much as lower their voice during the Azaan, leave alone offer the evening prayer.
It is not only lack of education and ignorance that gives rise to the religious zealots. Propagating the religion according to the true doctrine of Islam is a responsibility on all Muslims, especially the educated class. This will prevent the only other alternative that the majority of the uneducated class and the youth can turn to — the way of the Mullah. If Muslims do not start to live up to their responsibilities, and carry on criticizing the Mullah without actually practising the religion themselves, then we are guilty for giving intolerance and extremism in religion a chance to rear its ugly head. We can also continue to expect more bombings, more countries being invaded and more Jihadi groups being sown into our soil.
ZEESHAN A DOGAR
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
FOR the last many years, it has become an ordeal for the consumers of electricity and gas and the telephone users all over Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, to make pay for their bills. Sometimes, they have to stand in long queues even under the sun.
One solution to this problem is to install computerised online bill collection sets / machines, just like the ATMs at some banks, at several places in all the major cities. This should be done by a joint bill-collection authority or separately by the billing departments of the various utility services. Such revenue collecting machines are functioning successfully in many countries. In this process, the billing agency is selected, the account number is typed and when the money is deposited, the machine delivers the receipt. The entire process takes about 30 seconds.
In major cities, it would not be a problem to handle these machines as people are already used to ATMs.
This would enable the the consumers to pay their bills at any time of the day and the night.
RANA SHAHID
Karachi
FOR those visiting Saudi Arabia for Umrah during the last Ramazan, the trip was nothing short of a nightmare. Instead of concentrating on prayers, they remained under extreme tension as their tickets were taken away by the representatives of their Muallims on arrival at Jeddah. And they had to do a lot of running to the offices of the Muallims to get back their tickets to obtain confirmations and reconfirmations.
In some cases the tickets were misplaced or not recorded correctly in their registers. To cap it all, for the first time the validity of tickets was only 35 days and failure to return this within the stipulated period would mean buying fresh tickets in foreign exchange, which few people could afford.
I would humbly request the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the government of Pakistan to take up this issue with the government of Saudi Arabia and ask them to reconsider their new policy. It hardly serves their purpose of ensuring return of all the pilgrims. On the other hand, it is causing tremendous inconvenience and tensions to the pilgrims.
N. SYED
Karachi
THE decision by the government to let the retired admiral, Mansur-ul-Haq, off the hook by debiting his account for a couple of million dollars is a slap in the face of the people of this country. The acronym NAB stands for No Accountability Bureau. By entering into a plea bargain the modalities of which are always suspect as the due judicial process is not requisitioned and invoked to the full, the anti-corruption efforts of the government are at best a lip service to the misnomer, ‘Ihtesaab’.
Can it be expected to be fair that fellow generals and personnel of the armed forces bring each other to book for the billions they have creamed off. Unfortunately, by letting the admiral go free the government has effectively closed the book on many other defence deals as the complicity of defence contractors, manufacturers, middlemen and military men will be swept under the carpet. Petty criminals do more time in far inhospitable conditions than the admiral has had to do with.
Why should the admiral not rot in jail and do his bidding in prison garb for a crime which has earned him a place in the naval history almanacs. Should not the admiral share prison culinary finesse on a jute mat with a fellow inmate booked for violating CDA’s construction bylaws?
Why should not all of his assets be seized forthwith and he be subjected to a trial where government prosecutors demand the maximum penalty? Why should he be let go to live a life off ill-gotten wealth? Is the government scared to open a Pandora’s box by bringing the admiral to ‘account’?
HASAN TARIQ
Islamabad
THE students who took the first paper at the Government Pilot Secondary School on December 24, 2001, were shifted to the Government Science College, Wahdat Road, Lahore. The candidates took two papers in this college on December 26-27. Again the centre was shifted to the Central Model School, Lahore.
The idea was to economise on expenditure. The FPSC should not play with the future of the candidates to save a few rupees when it collects vast sums of money in fees and other dues.
K. S. AHMED
Lahore
I AM an apolitical person living abroad but whose heart is still in the homeland. I have written in the past on issues that trouble me, as those abroad have a sharply-honed perspective of these issues.
Why is it that Muslims cannot be united, honest, and constructive in the true spirit of Islam? There is an ongoing exodus of Pakistanis from the country due to various reasons which no government has ever bothered to resolve.
I will just mention a few problems which force widows to leave the comfort of their country and settle in countries where one or more of their offspring reside. There is absolutely no safety for elderly women living alone in Pakistan. Rising corruption and lack of basic facilities make our youth leave the country and then the elders are compelled to go into exile with their children.
Mrs A. KHAN
New Jersey USA
ON December 31, my family and friends decided to witness the Rangers parade and gate closing ceremony at Wagha. We reached Wagha, after travelling almost 35 kilometres and took our seats in the spectators’ stand.
The Rangers received us in a dignified manner and accommodated all the visitors. The slogans of the crowd were a good display of zeal, enthusiasm and national pride. The ceremony started immediately after a recitation from the Holy Quran.
Suddenly we heard shouting by thousands of people at the entrance of the newly constructed Bab-i-Azadi. They were carrying placards and were trying to force their way through the Rangers towards the parade venue. On inquiry it was revealed that they were accompanying Ms Asma Jehangir for her peace march towards the border. I am an eyewitness to the incident and am quite perturbed on the reports published by some papers, which undoubtedly give a wrong picture of the event. Since, it is expected that the Rangers, being a disciplined force, will not be able to give their own version, I am writing to put the record straight.
I am astonished as to how the incident was reported. Factually, the mob accompanying the human rights activists had violated the sanctity of a national event and created an embarrassing situation for the Rangers. They were not at all patient to wait for the ceremony to end and wanted to reach the zero line, which should never ever have been permitted. Rather, the Indian soldiers were also alarmed and took positions with their weapons.
It was an ugly situation, which could have become worse. The Rangers patiently tried to stop the mob but they insisted on reaching zero line before the parade had ended. Therefore, the police tried to stop them there.
As an eyewitness, I can confidently state that nobody misbehaved with Ms Asma Jehangir or her companions. It is ironic that in the present tense situation, our jawans should find their efforts frustrated.
MIAN ASIF KHAN
Lahore
PAKISTAN and India are on the threshold of a new war which threatens to bring misery and destruction to over a billion peoples of the sub-continent.
Will history repeat itself? Does history give us any information about our own prospects? Does it spell out an inexorable doom which we can only await with folded hands - resigning ourselves to a fate that we cannot avert or even modify by our own efforts? Or does it inform us, not of certainties, but probabilities, of bare possibilities, of our own future?
Toynbee who raised these questions also hints at an answer when he says:
“The lessons of history should not be like an astrologer’s horoscope; it should be like a navigator’s chart which affords the seafarer, who has the intelligence to use, with the hope of avoiding a ship wreck better than when he was sailing blind, because it gives him the means, if he has the skill and courage to use them, of steering a course between charted rocks and reefs.”
As the Roman statesman and orator had said a hundred years before Christ: Cedant arma togae, concedant, laurels, laudi. Let war give way to peace, laurels to praise. Any takers on either side?
ANWAR ABBAS
Karachi
DESPITE its much trumpeted claim of superior efficiency, Nadra has failed to issue new ID cards even to those who had submitted their papers in July, 2001. If the cards have already been prepared then the local district authorities must be tardy in their task of distributing them.
Some say they are holding out deliberately only to frustrate the people and force them to get ID cards made locally which work generates a lot of ‘private income’ for the staff here.
In any case, the process needs to be speeded up and the new cards must be issued within six weeks of applying for them.
ABDUL HAKIM
Muzaffargarh
THE Jamshed Town Nazim, Ahmed Parekh, told the citizens present at a seminar on urban renewal of PECHS that 80 per cent of the municipal budget was spent on administration and 20 per cent on development works.
How can this city or country make any progress if 80 per cent of our taxes are used on administration and the balance 20 per cent on development?
J. EUGENE
Karachi
RECENTLY I was reading on the Internet that last year India attracted over five billion dollars investment in the Indian stocks from outside the country. A rough data shows that foreign investors have put over 300 billion dollars in the United States markets.
In North America and Europe, the cyberspace technology has fully covered an individual’s house and businesses at large. Everything is through the computer and Internet. I don’t know whether our leaders and investors realize or not but it is a fact that foreign investment in one country’s stock market is the most important and most potential way of doing business in today’s world. The investors do not have time to travel from New York to Karachi taking 18 hours flight one side to negotiate a business investment or call hours on the long distance for necessary information. It is the Internet, where investors go on line and give 10-15 minutes quick look to a company’s 5-10 years profile and make a decision for yes or no.
I do not blame our companies as the Internet technology is new in Pakistan and is under way at a fast pace. So there are a very few companies who have a website. But the problem is even these websites are not fully equipped with necessary information. Either those are not updated daily or periodically and contain months back stale information or most weirdly these websites do not carry an investor’s information section. Even state enterprises lack important information on the website.
Unlike European and North American countries, if Pakistani companies cannot maintain a comprehensive information section for investors like annual reports of several years, press release and company news, then at least they can provide a few column page of their companies with basic information about their company listing on the stock market (KSE, LSE, ISE) with their daily fluctuating stock prices.
The government of Pakistan should make it mandatory for every stock market listed company to have a website with investors’ information. This will attract hundreds and millions of dollars investment in the Pakistani stock markets.
I also want to remind the leaders and economists of Pakistan that we can no longer depend on the overseas Pakistanis for their investments and transfer of funds to Pakistan every year. Whatever figure we have, it will continue to decline.
Because these overseas Pakistanis are seriously discouraged by the law and order situation in Pakistan.
Whenever, government changes or anything happens, the edge of the sword falls on the dollar account or the account holders of overseas Pakistanis.
After Sept 11 last year, it would be now tough for Pakistanis to go to a foreign country for an employment contract or an immigration.
Those who are already working in Europe and North America, may either lose their contracts or these may not be renewed.
No individual, group or a country can survive on aid or loans. No matter when and how, one day, we have to stand on our own feet.
SHAFIQ KHAN
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address:
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.